When the POCO F8 Pro came out, I expected its price to be a little higher than what was announced. It’s just how it is nowadays with smartphone pricing due to AI, storage, and more.

Nevertheless, it definitely exceeded my expectations and was one of the best real premium mid-rangers of its time. Now, POCO is back with its latest smartphone offerings, simply elevating the package the F series is known for.

While Rodneil likens the POCO F9 Ultra to an underrated star K-Pop performer, I stick by my own analogy that the POCO F9 Pro variant is a lighter weight class boxer who packs definitive power.

Smooth all-around performance

Mainly marketed for unparalleled gaming performance, the POCO F9 Pro brings incremental improvements in various departments.

Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile chipset, there is no doubt the device performs lightning quick by midrange standards.

Like its predecessor, it’s an overkill for casual usage — consistently smooth and without any hiccups.

I have only been able to use this device for my usual day-to-day workload, which includes vlogging, correspondence, occasional gaming, and content consumption.

For gaming, content creation, more

From filming several clips for my food vlogs, putting all of them on an editing software, and generating reels for social media publishing, I’ve had seamless sessions with the F9 Pro.

Just having a powerful tool to execute such a workflow from start to finish feels a lot less stressful.

It matters a lot during video playback and when I have to run through a polished draft one final time before rendering.

It’s not jittery unlike other midrange devices which tend to lag or freeze on the playback part. Precision trims and cuts are likewise a breeze.

In the two weeks I’ve had this device, I haven’t tested it yet for livestreams, but I see no reason for it not to deliver on that end.

And for gaming, it’s much like my experience with the F8 Pro across various titles: steady and worry-free.

Visuals are clear and crisp with the phone’s 6.59-inch 185Hz AMOLED HyperRGB (2,510 x 1,156) display.

POCO also pairs the flagship-level processor with a dedicated VisionBoost D8 chipset to enable AI super resolution and smart frame rate at the same time.

This way, you don’t have to choose just one between high resolution or a high frame rate. But of course this depends on what the game’s settings allow.

But for Call of Duty: Mobile, I personally prefer a smoother frame rate as the visuals look detailed already to begin with. WildBoost Engine then enables efficient performance throughout your sessions.

Battery improvements

The POCO F9 Pro comes with just a slight upgrade to its battery capacity — from 6,210mAh to 6,330mAh. But I do feel it’s been more efficient in distributing power and consuming it.

A welcome addition is its wireless charging capability.

However, you’ll need a magnetic case to ensure your power bank of choice sticks good on its back.

The battery supports 100W HyperCharge for a quick replenishment should it finally be drained after a long day. But otherwise, you should be able to use this outdoors from dawn ’til dusk.

Sound by Bose

POCO continues its partnership with audio brand Bose as well, bringing high-quality 2.1 channel audio to the device.

The quality is, again, more refined, as if coming out of budget earphones. You can shoot up the volume and still expect well-rounded sound instead of crackling or distorted.

There are two preset audio profiles: Dynamic and Balanced.

Aside from that, you can customize the audio depending on your preference, whether you like the more immersive, 360-degree sound blasting from the speakers or a more balanced, treble and voice-focused mix.

Cameras: A bit more consistent across ranges

In the camera department, the POCO F9 Pro introduces a 200MP ultra-clear camera system equipped with OIS.

Here are its hardware:

• 200MP f/1.68 OIS main camera, OIS
• 50MP f/2.0 floating telephoto camera, OIS
• 8MP f/2.25 ultra-wide camera
• 32MP front camera

Generally, shots are more color accurate and natural, compared to the F8 Pro. That’s the system’s most distinct improvement.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison:

If you’re indoors with warm ambient light, you’d get the shots you’d expect from such a setting. Same when outdoors if the weather is overcast and cool or it’s hot and sunny.

As with Xiaomi’s mobile photography blueprint, users can switch from 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm focal lengths at “1x” zoom.

The telephoto shooter then takes over with shoots from 2.5x zoom and beyond, and helps with lossless shots at up to around 5x. It also doubles as a macro shooter for close-ups.

Meanwhile, Portrait Mode also introduces a 3.1x zoom focal length, which gives you another option for framing subjects.

Still, the blurring can be hit or miss. But you can definitely pull off some smooth bokeh and make subjects pop out more with depth. But sometimes, as with the F8 Pro, there are segmentation issues and the blurring sometimes isn’t enough.

When filming, Pro mode ensures the exposure and focus stay steady even with tracking shots. It’s not perfect and you’ll still experience some inconsistencies, but it the package is pretty darn good for everyday vlogs.

Here’s a quick sample:

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Premium look and feel

The F9 series also carries over the premium look and feel for the devices. The main difference is that the entire camera module is now protruded, occupying the upper third of the back panel. That’s instead of just the individual shooters popping out.

The “Sound by Bose” branding is also a little larger now with a faux speaker design beside the cameras.

Everything else is simple and clean, reflecting the premium branding. The back remains just a little slippery, but thankfully, there is a clear case, which also lets me do this:

My only issue again is the curved corners which crop out some UI elements, text, or visuals when gaming and in other scenarios.

Having used the F8 Pro for almost a year now, I’ve quickly adjusted to the user interface and its unique elements compared to other brands.

Although if you are switching from another smartphone brand, there’s going to be a bit of a learning process to get used to them.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

The POCO F9 Pro is once again a Swipe Right. Its overall package puts other competitor devices in the segment to shame, whether you’re planning on using it as a gaming-first device or an overall ample performance daily carry.

You are also promised high-level performance for whatever scenario for years to come, making it a smart investment.

Hear me out.

Heejin is a K-Pop idol who first debuted with LOONA in 2018. She’s the group’s center, an all-rounder performer, and has a face that I adamantly believe people would go to war for.

She’s also not necessarily the first name that comes to mind for casual K-Pop fans.

That’s the POCO F9 Ultra.

It’s an all-rounder too. Great performance, a stunning display, unreal battery life, capable cameras, and a design with plenty of personality. On paper and in practice, it’s arguably just as capable as any other flagship on the market.

But when it comes to top-of-mind Android flagships, Samsung’s Galaxy S Ultra series still owns that conversation. POCO has spent the last few years trying to punch into that space, and the F9 Ultra might be its most convincing attempt yet.

Not because it does one thing exceptionally well, but because it does almost everything really well.

An all-rounder, by design

The first thing that struck me about the F9 Ultra was its weight.

It’s heavier than I expected, although I mean that in a good way. There’s a certain heft to it that makes the phone feel substantial in the hand.

And then there’s the Dark Cherry Red finish. It’s gorgeous.

The F9 Ultra looks very much like a POCO F Series phone. That’s something I appreciate. There are plenty of slab smartphones out there that could swap logos and look almost identical. POCO, meanwhile, has been developing a visual language for the F Series.

The camera module remains familiar from the last two generations. It gives the F Ultra a sense of continuity instead of making every new generation look like a completely different phone.

The dynamic lighting adds some flair. Sound by Bose is also incorporated into the camera module, giving it another distinctive touch.

But that Dark Cherry Red? POCO should make this a staple color.

Virtual Angel

Then there’s the display. The 6.9-inch 185Hz HyperRGB AMOLED display is a feast for the eyes. Much like Heejin.

So naturally, I spent a lot of my time watching some of her covers and mindlessly staring at her Instagram Reels and posts. For research, obviously.

The colors look rich and accurate. Everything is crisp. Whether I was watching something at home, sitting in a cafe, or previewing photos from an event, the display consistently looked fantastic.

It’s also a particularly good panel for a phone that encourages you to consume so much media. The combination of its size, refresh rate, and color reproduction makes pretty much everything more enjoyable.

The past few weeks have been pretty gloomy where I am, so I can’t say much about how the display performs under direct sunlight.

But in every other environment I’ve used it in, I’ve had very little to complain about.

The F9 Ultra doesn’t merely have flagship-level display specifications.

It has a display that feels flagship-level.

Pixel Memory

POCO has been making a bigger push with smartphone photography, and the F9 Ultra takes that seriously with its first 200MP main camera and 5x periscope telephoto.

The good news is that the cameras more than deliver. Photos taken anywhere from 1x to 5x look good enough to proudly show off on social media.

The zoom looks great in the gif below.

But the detail loss is more apparent in the zoomed in photo of the building.

Even 10x is pretty darn decent.

You lose some detail, as expected, but I was still impressed with how clear some of the photos came out.

A good example is the NBA House Philippines event, where I took photos of my point god, Jason Kidd, while he was on stage. I was roughly three-quarters of a basketball court away from him, yet the F9 Ultra managed to capture usable shots at significant zoom.

Here are more samples from my time at NBA House Philippines.

On regular days, whether I’m shooting in ample indoor lighting or daylight, the F9 Ultra cameras more than deliver.

They look awesome.

Dining

Night/ Low light

Daylight

Of course, this is where the Galaxy S26 Ultra conversation eventually comes in.

The F9 Ultra isn’t going to erase Samsung’s 10x zoom camera advantage. But for the vast majority of photos I took, I was more than happy with what came out of this phone.

The F9 Ultra doesn’t need to be the absolute best camera phone in every situation. It just needs to be good enough that you don’t feel like you’re compromising. For the most part, it is.

She doesn’t get tired

There’s a Heejin anecdote that feels particularly appropriate here. In a vlog some years ago, Heejin showed that she could hold a proper plank for over nine minutes.

If you’ve ever tried holding a plank, you know exactly how ridiculous that is.

There was a time when I could hold one for a little over a minute. Even that was tough.

Nine minutes is impeccable endurance. And, like Heejin, the POCO F9 Ultra’s endurance is top-notch.

I mentioned going to the NBA House Philippines event and taking lots of photos (Including the NBA x One Piece collaboration figures below).

That activity barely made a dent in the battery. I started the day at 100 percent at around 10am. By the time I left at around 4pm, the phone was still sitting at roughly 80 percent.

That’s six hours of use that included taking photos, scrolling through social media, doing some photo editing, and whatever else I happened to be doing that day.

Long-lasting might actually be an understatement.

The 8,050mAh battery is one of the biggest reasons the F9 Ultra feels different from a lot of other flagships.

And when you do eventually need to top up, the phone supports 100W wired charging. I tested this with a 100W charger, going from 38 percent to 100 percent in one hour and 19 minutes.

That’s not the fastest charging time I’ve encountered, but combined with the battery’s endurance, I rarely found myself worrying about charging in the first place.

That’s ultimately what good battery life should do. Make you stop thinking about battery life.

Video Game: the F9 Ultra takes the stage

I’ve said this before, but mobile gaming isn’t really my thing.

So testing gaming performance on phones can sometimes feel like a bit of a chore.

The F9 Ultra made it easier.

I played Neverness to Everness, which I’d like to think is a reasonably demanding game, and the phone handled it with absolute ease. I didn’t spend hours gaming on it because that’s simply not how I use phones. But the experience was enough to reinforce what the hardware already suggests.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, paired with the VisionBoost D8 chipset, makes everyday interaction feel smooth and seamless.

Apps open quickly. Multitasking feels effortless. You can jump between chat apps, doomscroll for an unreasonable amount of time, edit photos, and generally do whatever it is you do on your phone without feeling like you’re asking too much of it.

One thing I particularly appreciated was how easy it was to pick up where I left off. Apps could sit untouched for hours, even days, and I could come back to them without feeling like I was starting over.

That feeling stayed consistent throughout the week or so I had the phone with me. When it comes to general performance, the F Series is in the cream of the crop.

Honestly, it sounds good

POCO’s partnership with Bose gets another chance to shine through the F9 Ultra’s speakers.

I had ARTMS’ Hyper Ego EP on loop alongside the setlist from STAYC’s Stay Closer concert tour, which I’m going to later this month. Listening to them through the F9 Ultra almost felt like the first time I listened to 3D audio.

I’m not saying they sound the same. It’s the feeling I’m talking about. That feeling of hearing new sounds from a track you’ve listened to before. Little details that suddenly seem more noticeable.

The F9 Ultra’s speakers are clear, crisp, and genuinely pleasant to listen to. That’s especially noticeable when you’re watching videos or listening to music without headphones.

It’s not something I’d expect to make or break a phone purchase, but it’s another example of POCO taking an already capable flagship and finding ways to make the overall experience more enjoyable.

Much like Heejin’s voice, especially when she sings R&B.

A design that’s starting to bloom

Personally, I wouldn’t immediately recognize an F9 Ultra from across a room. But that’s a me thing.

It’s easy to dismiss slab smartphones as looking more or less the same. What I appreciate about the F9 Ultra is that POCO seems to understand that consistency can itself become an identity.

The camera module has remained familiar over the last few generations while POCO continues to play with colors, finishes, and textures. And the Dark Cherry Red is easily my favorite of the bunch.

The dynamic lighting also gives the phone some character without making it look like it’s trying too hard.

There’s a practical benefit to that camera design, too. The module is large, but it doesn’t turn the phone into a wobbling mess when you put it down on a desk or table.

It’s a small thing. But small things add up.

Ready to spread its wings

Now, about that Galaxy S26 Ultra.

The highest-end POCO F9 Ultra configuration comes in at €1,399.90 for 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Even at that price, it’s still less expensive than the base Galaxy S26 Ultra.

The 12GB + 256GB model costs €1,099.90, while the 16GB + 512GB version costs €1,199.90. Early-bird pricing drops those to €829.90 and €899.90, respectively, while the 1TB model gets an early-bird price of €1,199.90.

That’s a lot of phone for the money.

If you’re only after overall performance, the F9 Ultra can, pound for pound, compete with Samsung’s flagship. You can even argue that POCO handily beats the Galaxy in battery capacity and charging.

Where Samsung maintains a clear advantage is video, particularly zoom video. That’s not necessarily something everyone uses all the time. But if it’s important to you, the Galaxy remains the better choice.

There’s also the simple matter of being mainstream.

Because Samsung is Samsung, you have an enormous ecosystem of cases and accessories to choose from. Finding accessories for a POCO is a much more niche affair.

But those aren’t necessarily deal-breakers.

If what you’re after is general utility, impeccable performance, a gorgeous display, long battery life, capable cameras, and a criminally underrated look, the POCO F9 Ultra makes a very compelling case.

Is the POCO F9 Ultra your GadgetMatch?

The POCO F9 Ultra doesn’t feel like a phone desperately trying to become the obvious choice.

It keeps punching up. Against the Galaxy S26 Ultra, it can hold its own in performance, display, battery life, charging, and general everyday use. It even undercuts Samsung on price, especially at its early-bird rates.

The Galaxy still has its advantages. Its video capabilities, particularly zoom video, remain stronger. Its mainstream status also means more options for cases, accessories, and other ecosystem products.

But the F9 Ultra makes a compelling case where it matters most: the overall experience.

There’s no single feature that defines this phone. Instead, it’s the combination of everything it does really well.

It’s fast. Its display is gorgeous. The cameras are more than capable. The battery is ridiculous. The speakers are genuinely good. And that Dark Cherry Red — I just can’t stop admiring it.

That’s what makes the Heejin comparison work for me.

Heejin isn’t defined by one thing, either. She’s an all-rounder. She’s been consistently good at what she does for years. She has fans who know exactly why she’s worth paying attention to. She just isn’t necessarily the first name that comes to mind for everyone.

The POCO F9 Ultra is in a similar position.

It doesn’t need to beat the Galaxy S26 Ultra at everything. It just needs to make enough of a case that someone looking beyond the obvious choice realizes there’s another flagship worth considering.

The F9 Ultra does exactly that. It’s not necessarily the phone everyone is talking about. It’s the phone people should probably be talking about.

Despite working in this industry, I’m not an early adopter eager to jump on the latest advancements in technology. I prefer waiting for later refinements to ensure all the kinks have been ironed out. That’s why I’ve never used a foldable. Until now, that is.

In the winter of 2019, Samsung announced the Galaxy Fold, a device that would eventually lead to one of the brand’s biggest segments. It’s a day that I distinctly remember. I was in New York on my way to a class for my master’s program when the news broke. It was a very wintery day, but I still rushed to my campus to cover the news. It felt like being on the ground floor of next big thing.

But every ground floor has its flaws: the floor is too dusty, the foundations are too weak, the price of admission is too high. Or, in foldable terms: the crease is too visible, dust gets inside too easily, the price of a foldable is too high. Despite its promise, a foldable in 2019 didn’t seem worth it.

Now, six years after the fact, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra finally lands on the palm of my hands, ready to convince me to enter foldable culture. Was it successful? How does it feel to get your first foldable in 2026?

In the palm of your hands

A foldable is naturally a gigantic phone, especially when unfolded. With phones getting bigger and bigger today, a substantial concern is whether a foldable phone is just way too big for my smaller hands.

More than the phone’s performance or design, the Fold8 Ultra’s size is the most surprising thing about it. When folded, the phone measures only 72.8mm in width. It has less width than other phones today. Even for my smaller hands, I can maintain a solid grip. Plus, I don’t feel like I need to cradle the phone with my pinky finger from underneath.

Despite essentially being two screens bundled into one package, the Fold8 Ultra isn’t significantly heavier than other phones. In fact, it’s three grams lighter than my previous daily driver, the Nothing Phone (3) — 215 grams vs. 218 grams. The weight distribution is also better when unfolded, making it feel relatively lighter in practical use.

Oh, and though this is a small tidbit, I have to applaud the Fold8 Ultra for having only two button elements: the volume rocker and the power button. There’s no extemporaneous AI button. It’s just those two. Plus, the volume rocker is a bit more elevated than the power button, making it so easy to fiddle around with one-handed and without checking which button your finger is on.

If you’re worried about having a device that’s way too big for practical use, don’t be. The Fold8 Ultra is light enough so you can put it side by side without feeling out of place.

More than one way to use it

Though this is my first foldable phone, it’s not my first rodeo with a device that can transform from one form factor to another. If you’ve met the Lenovo Yoga series, then you’re familiar with the concept, too.

There’s a significant difference, though. For me, it’s difficult to justify a flexible laptop. Whenever I use a laptop, it’s always exclusively as a laptop. If I need a tablet, I’ll just get a tablet. A laptop is too cumbrous to constantly fiddle around with.

On the other hand, the Fold8 Ultra is just perfect for multiple uses. As I said above, it’s already perfectly balanced as a smartphone. It also works perfectly unfolded when I need a larger screen to watch videos. Now, those are the two main uses for a foldable, but there are more.

For example, you can partially unfold it into a book, which makes it easier to hold and to read, especially if you’re a reader. Plus, because it’s a larger 8.0-inch screen, the font and the content itself is bigger. So, if you want to save your eyes, holding it in “book mode” makes so much sense.

Staying with partially folded formats, the Fold8 Ultra also has a Flex mode. Imagine laying your phone down on a surface while folded like a laptop. The mode divides the main screen into two chunks. Some apps use this mode to perfection. For example, YouTube transforms the bottom half into easily maneuverable video controls. To me, this mode is perfect while I’m eating and want a screen automatically propped up to watch videos.

Personally, each mode is useful. With a laptop, I find myself forgetting about certain modes entirely. But with the Fold8 Ultra, I’ve been using each mode equally.

Is the crease gone?

The foldable crease is, by far, the most common pain point for those who are too hesitant to try a foldable. In early iterations, dust can too easily get inside the crease. Plus, after enough times unfolding, the crease created a visible line straight down the middle. Has that changed today?

Well, for one, the openings that formerly gave access to dirt and dust are now covered by the phone’s chassis. There’s no risk of dust entering your screen.

Now, to be honest, there’s still some faint traces of a crease. But it’s clearly less problematic as it was years ago. You’ll barely notice it with regular use. Samsung has also improved its screens, making the crease much less noticeable with better brightness.

While we’re here, let’s also talk about the screen’s durability.

The secondary screen is coated with Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3. It’s a hardy surface but still prone to scratches. After some use, the screen ended up with tiny slivers visible when you look closely. But honestly, it just doesn’t matter. The display is good enough to mask tiny wear-and-tear scratches.

The main screen, on the other hand, has a Mohs hardness of 1. The screen itself doesn’t feel too susceptible to damage. The protective film, which you’re not supposed to remove, is a different story, though. Because it’s just a film, you can easily dent it with enough pressure. And that’s what happened to my screen. Like the scratches on the secondary screen, the dent is barely visible, but it’s certainly something to take note of when using the phone unfolded.

Powerful in its own right

As the most expensive phone in Samsung’s lineup, the Fold8 Ultra packs in the most powerful hardware that you can get from a smartphone today. It has the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

With hardware as top-notch as this, it feels unnecessary to explore what the processor can do with pure numbers. It can basically do everything. My trusty Zenless Zone Zero was no match for the Fold8 Ultra, even if I use the full unfolded screen. If anything, the unfolded version just makes it so much more immersive.

Everything else is just child’s play. The Fold8 Ultra can handle multitasking well. Granted, I’m not a fan of keeping multiple windows up in a single smartphone screen, but if you’re inclined to set up a temporary workstation right on your phone, Samsung’s top foldable is perfect for it.

In terms of heat, the hottest spot is right beside the rear cameras. If you don’t have a case, you might run into issues of discomfort with prolonged heavy use.

Big cameras mean better quality

The Fold8 Ultra’s rear cameras are remarkably huge. In terms of depth, it’s almost as thick as the phone itself. If you don’t have a case, the phone wobbles back and forth when laid flat on a surface. It’s very distracting.

Because of how powerful they are, I can almost forgive the cameras for being too big. The three cameras consist of a 200-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 10-megapixel telephoto lens.

When it comes to color, the camera’s photos don’t stray too far from reality. There are some intensity changes in contrast, as is wont with modern cameras. It’s not too artificial, though. I found myself liking this camera more than others.

 

In an unfolded state, the camera can capture more, which I prefer, but it does seem too much like holding up an iPad to record a concert.

How does the battery last as long as it does?

For a device with two screens, the Fold8 Ultra is surprisingly economical with its battery usage. I expected a battery that would drain before I could get home. Instead, I got one that treats battery tests like a stroll in the park.

On a typical day, the phone eats up only 25 percent of the battery after eight hours or a full day’s work. A bit of a caveat, though: This was done exclusively in folded mode, which is how I prefer using the phone at work.

Of course, using it unfolded will deplete more battery. A single hour running YouTube while unfolded eats up 5 percent of the battery. But let’s go further. As I said, I preferred playing Zenless Zone Zero in unfolded mode to unlock more screen real estate. Though doing so made the game feel more immersive, it came at the expense of battery life. Playing for two hours straight depleted 20 percent of the battery.

Another thing I adore about the Fold8 Ultra is its charging. It’s a standard USB-C port, but the phone gets over half to two-thirds of the battery in only 30 minutes. Even more impressively, I found that the battery can reclaim 5 percent of juice from just a short five-minute drive using a small car charger. Though my car charger is fully capable of charging a phone all the way, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it go this quickly.

Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra your GadgetMatch?

So, is 2026 the right time to get into foldables? The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra delivers a resounding yes. Samsung’s latest book-style foldable is a refined distillation of everything we’ve done so far for the foldable segment. Besides being a strong phone in itself, it’s a true 2-in-1 device that offers actually functional use cases in other configurations.

Plus, we’re at a turning point for foldables. Besides book-style foldables, clamshell phones are just as strong, if not stronger. We’re also on the cusp of passport-style foldables, spearheaded by the regular Fold8 and the rumored iPhone Fold. In terms of choice, there are so many solid options today.

If you’re a power user, the Note8 Ultra is a strong first and gets a Swipe Right. Sure, the cost might burn a whole through your wallet (and it’s a bit more expensive than the previous generation), but that’s ironically why you should get one now. The AI-borne RAM crisis will terrorize the industry for some time, so who knows how much more expensive things will get next year?

For all that, the Galaxy Z Fold8 UItra also gets a Super Swipe. The time to go foldable is now.